A famous song says: “Diamonds are not forever”. The only thing I heard before leaving Milan was how Detroit was not the renaissance city that it once was. Apparently, like a diamond, Detroit lost its glare with the bankruptcy. A dead, dangerous city, this is what people told me I had to expect. However, that is not what I found.

Just like the city’s mantra says, Detroit has risen from its ashes. Almost everything has been revitalized. From the office I work for, which is a restored model T factory, to the Heidelberg project, that takes junk from abandoned houses in order to turn it into art, Detroit has taken what it was once lost and built around it. Having the opportunity to work in place that reminds me so much of Detroit’s past helps me find the concentration I need. In order to leave an impact on Detroit Food Academy, I will need to transform this concentration into concrete deliverables. These deliverables will include a new website that will help DFA telling the stories of the businesses that its alumni have created, and, contemporarily, pushing sales online of their signature products.At the same time, me and Nalini are trying to build a digital presentation that would improve the company’s pitches to potential partners. Another project that we are trying to carry along is creating a partnership with the Detroit Experience Factory, where two people of our group are interning. I like how we are all connecting as friends, but also at a business level.

Even if the reputation of Detroit often precedes its name, all of us are finding this city of great inspiration. Hopefully these months here will prove that diamonds are forever, and that both Detroit and The Detroit Food Academy will shine forever.

You're amazing Tommaso! I think one the greatest things about diamonds is that every diamond has imperfections! Detroit is a "diamond in the rough" but I believe that with someone like you working within the Motor City walls this diamond will shine a bit more brighter at the end of your time here!
-Carrie